From all your friends at WitmerLab at Ohio University, have a Merry Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a safe and productive new year! 🎄 ☃️🎅 This year, Jane the tyrannosaur received the special gift of being designated the holotype of a new species of Nanotyrannus, N. lethaeus! 🦖

Why Santa's elves hate dinosaurs...! 🎄🎅🦖

Getting in the spirit...! 🎄🎅🦖🎁

Apparently Bill Simpson, longtime Collections Manager of fossil vertebrates at the ⁦‪@FieldMuseum‬⁩ in Chicago, is retiring—after 46 yrs! Bill has always been so helpful, including pulling out the skull of ⁦‪@SUEtheTrex‬⁩ for study multiple times! Happy Retirement, Bill! 🎥: Emily Rieff #FossilFriday

Earlier this week, John Noble Wilford (1933–2025)—giant of science journalism & Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at the @nytimes.com for 50 yrs—passed away. I almost froze when he phoned me to report on my 2001 article in @science.org. Few science reporters like him remain today.

#FossilFriday The awesome new article in Science by @griffinlabpaleo.bsky.social et al. adds more evidence for the validity of Nanotyrannus by showing that the hyoid bone in the holotype has adult bone histology. Here are some more images showing the ceratobranchial bone in place in the skull. 🦖

I learned from the wonderful obit of Mark Norell in Current Biology by Pete Makovicky, Jim Clark, & @stevebrusatte.bsky.social (bit.ly/4rtBlEP) that Mark "was most proud of Unearthing the Dragon," so I pulled it off the shelf & read it cover to cover. It was like hearing Mark's voice again. 🥹

#HappyThanksgiving from WitmerLab! You have your holiday traditions, and we have ours! Yes, we CT scanned our turkey on our best turkey platter. Science has never been so delicious! And like any good dinosaur biologist, I prepared and accessioned the skeleton—OUVC 10789. 🦃🦖

Happy to be a part of this big project led by Mario Bronzati & Matteo Fabbri—out today #OA in @currentbiology.bsky.social bit.ly/3M5weun —on the brain endocast of a close pterosaur cousin & what it means for pterosaur brain evolution...maybe different from bird brain evolution. 1/2

Highly recommended! I just finished a cover-to-cover read, and it's a great addition to the avian sensory ecology literature with excellent discussions of the links between brain & behavior. I prefer reading paper books (better retention) but the whole thing is freely downloadable! bit.ly/482xPZm 🦉🧠

The paleo community is mourning the passing of giant. Philippe Taquet passed away on Sunday at 85. I was honored to meet him in his Paris office in 2007. Later that year, we published on a sauropod from his beloved Gadoufaoua in Niger, Africa, & named for him—Sereno et al. 2007: bit.ly/3WZLKdF 🦕

Former lab member Peter Rhynard did a great job presenting his undergrad honors thesis research on the skull of the Allosaurus specimen known as Big Al (MOR 693) at the #2025SVP meeting! Thanks to @seishirotada.bsky.social for the photos since I was unable to attend myself!

We'll close out this #FossilFriday with the obvious choice of Nanotyrannus. I couldn't share this CT scanning session at the time (June 2023) but can now. @jgn-paleo.bsky.social brought the holotype Cleveland skull he had on loan, and CMNH VP curator Caitlin Colleary & I joined in the fun!

Shamini Bundell ‪@shamini.bsky.social at @nature.com, knowing that I had written the N&V commentary (rdcu.be/eNv94) on the Zanno & Napoli article on Nanotyrannus, contacted me earlier this week to film a quick video that provides some background. Shamini did a great job with it! I need a haircut.

This @witmerlab.bsky.social piece about l'affair Nanotyrannus is extremely sharp and even-handed about some of the dynamics that made this particular argument so contentious and -- occasionally -- bitter rdcu.be/eNv94

Today's bombshell in @nature.com by Lindsay Zanno & James Napoli @jgn-paleo.bsky.social (bit.ly/4qBE6ng) shows that putative juvvy T. rex fossils actually are Nanotyrannus. I reviewed the manuscript, so Nature invited me to write the News & Views commentary. Free link: rdcu.be/eNv94 🦖

Interested in fossils? Brains? Reptiles? Want to study how reptile (particularly squamate) brains and senses changed over time? Want to be part of an international team studying the evolution of cognition? Then apply for our Univ of Edinburgh PhD project! e5-dtp.ed.ac.uk/project?item...

It's #NationalFossilDay here in the USA, so here's a photo of our T. rex brain endocast based on a US national fossil—AMNH 5117. The surprise was to see it on exhibit in Japan at the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum. Feel free to print one of your own: skfb.ly/Mqsq ! 🦖

If you haven't read—or re-read in a while—Bakker's 1986 classic The Dinosaur Heresies, it's well worth doing. I read it in 1986 & again on my recent trip to Japan. Got a pb copy for $10 for the long trip (1st photo) rather than take my signed 1st ed (got John Gurche to sign his cover art, too!). 🦖

Excited to see this new #OA article out on turtle head vasculature, led by @seishirotada.bsky.social. It was part of Sei's PhD diss. So much fun injection, dissection, sawing, & µCT of turtles & lizards in the lab with Sei and DJ Morgan—leading to this really nice article! doi.org/10.1186/s133... 🐢

We have a new paper out! Turtle ancestors evolved a shell—but what else? We found that an unique rostral vasculature was also obtained gradually along the lineage, and that one of the earliest turtles Proganochelys likely retained a mostly ancestral state!🐢 sjpp.springeropen.com/articles/10....

Happy Birthday, T. rex! 🎉🎂 120 years ago today (1905), fossils collected in Montana were given the name Tyrannosaurus rex. Here’s the "sitting" mount of the T. rex known as Bucky (TCM 2001.90.1) at the National Museum of Nature & Science, which I visited last week in Tokyo. 🦖

#FossilFriday Good times last week at the National Museum of Nature & Science in Tokyo with Seishiro Tada and Takanobu Tsuihiji and the "sitting" mount of the T. rex known as Bucky (TCM 2001.90.1). 🦖

After spending so much time with smallest/youngest specimen of Tarbosaurus, I'm thrilled finally to be face to face with among the largest known Tarbosaurus specimens (MPC-D 107/2) at the stunning Fukui Prefecture Dinosaur Museum in Japan.

Excited to be in Fukui, Japan, for the 6th International Symposium on Asian Dinosaurs #ISAD2025 which starts today. Fukui is a dinosaur town (my kind of town!), with life-size robotic dinosaurs around town! 🦖

Having a great time in the dinosaur collections of the National Museum of Nature & Science in Tsukuba, Japan, just outside Tokyo. Many wonderful fossils like this beautiful skull of Thescelosaurus NSM PV 24661.

Excited to be in Japan for the 6th International Symposium on Asian Dinosaurs #ISAD2025 in Fukui later this week. In Tokyo now for research. Was delighted last night for a surprise reunion with these folks who trained in WitmerLab: Seishiro Tada, Meg Wakui, Hirochika Ueda, & Takanobu Tsuihiji!

Shaken to hear Mark Norell passed—good friend, trusted colleague, giant in our field. Coincidentally, I got the news as I was working on my talk for the Intl. Symp. on Asian Dinosaurs in Fukui later this month. Here's my slide on Mark’s impact on Asian dinosaur science. It hurt to add 1957–2025. 😥

30 years ago today (Sept 1, 1995) I started my job at Ohio University & @ouhcom.bsky.social! I'm not done yet, but it's been a pretty fulfilling run, watching students succeed, the lab grow, & science happening! Minimally we moved from that cheesy clipart pick-&-scalpel logo to a snazzier logo! 1/1

A sad #FossilFriday with the news that legendary Mongolian dinosaur paleontologist Rinchen Barsbold passed away yesterday at the age of 90. I'm honored to have shaken his hand and more so to have coauthored with him twice, on Tarbosaurus and on Avimimus. R.I.P. Dr. Barsbold. 🦖

Excited to have this new #OA article out in Fossil Studies (doi.org/10.3390/foss...), documenting the loss of cranial kinesis in phorusrhacid terror birds in connection with their remarkable hatchet-like feeding style. Dino Degrange ably led the project & we've got more on the way!

35 years ago day SUE the T. rex (FMNH PR 2081) was discovered by Sue Hendrickson. Few dinosaur specimens are as impressive, and our team has had the privilege of studying the original fossils & CT scan data many times. As always, thanks go to the Field Museum for their support! 🦖

Today is both #NationalKittenDay and #ThyreophoranThursday so here's another photo from when 8-week-old Pinky visited WitmerLab and shared a moment with Pinacosaurus. Also in attendance were Tarchia & a couple stegosaurs. #PinkysDinosaurAdventure

Since some folks on social media seemed a little freaked about yesterday's vid ⬇️ of me rolling these skulls out of the lab so the floors could be cleaned & waxed, I'll use #NationalSelfieDay as an opportunity to show you that all is well! They're all back with no mishaps! 🦖

#FossilFriday Getting the floors cleaned & waxed in all the lab spaces is no small task, which is why it hardly ever happens. I had to move out everything I possibly could. Also forced some decisions on what got moved to the dumpster. Kinda fun to see freshly waxed floors again!

Loved the #WalkingWithDinosaurs ep on Pachyrhinosaurus. Didn't do anything for the show but provided brain endocast viz for the #WWD book from our 2008 pub—https://bit.ly/4jTiNJf. Here's also our Hieronymus et al. article on centrosaurine facial skin—https://bit.ly/447xCC1. More images in the reply⬇️

Digging the new #WalkingWithDinosaurs on PBS. Fun to see a 3D print of our T. rex brain endocast show up, plus a clip from a vid we did for a museum (youtube.com/watch?v=WcR2...). @kakapojay.bsky.social at the BBC contacted me in 2023 for permission. 3D print your own T. rex endocast: skfb.ly/Mqsq !

Happy #JurassicParkDay, marking the 32nd anniversary of the release of the original and arguably still the best film in the JP-JW series. It's a crazy world right now, so maybe it's healthy to take some time to celebrate the silly. And yes, my vintage JP puppet also has a vintage JP puppet! 🦖

Now here's a book to sink my teeth into! 🦖 #FossilFriday @markwitton.bsky.social

Every day is #DinosaurDay for us, but here's an old friend, a young Corythosaurus, flirting with that difficult transition to adulthood, showing its brain endocast & expanding airway & sinuses within its narial crest. Published w/ @DavidEvans_ROM in 2009: bit.ly/3kh7fRG

1998 was a still near enough to the dawn of the digital revolution that when I CT scanned this Edmontonia skull, I left with a big stack of film—no contrast adjustment, no 3D viz. But 27 years later, it's better than nothing when you gotta check out a feature or two. #FossilFriday

Really important review of dinosaur physiology out today led by @stephanopteryx.bsky.social & @paleofox.bsky.social w/ Jason Bourke & ‪‪@rockjock80.bsky.social‬‬: bit.ly/43I1gxJ. Cool to see this old ankylosaur friend as Figure 1, from a collab w/ former PhD students Jason Bourke & Ruger Porter.

Really important review of dinosaur physiology out today led by @stephanopteryx.bsky.social & @paleofox.bsky.social w/ Jason Bourke & ‪‪@rockjock80.bsky.social‬‬: bit.ly/43I1gxJ. Cool to see this old ankylosaur friend as Figure 1, from a collab w/ former PhD students Jason Bourke & Ruger Porter.

#FossilFriday Sometimes dinosaurs follow me home for research on a lovely spring day. Here are a ~2-year-old Tarbosaurus (3D print of MPC-D 107/7) and a subadult/teenage Tarbosaurus (cast of PIN 553-3/1, right half of braincase), with Pinky for scale. 🦖 #PinkysDinosaurAdventure

As chaos and carnage seem to dominate the headlines these days, I sometimes seek sanctuary in the Mesozoic Era, when the chaos and carnage was somehow more comprehensible. #FossilFriday

We microCT-scanned the young black bear cub we shared here last week. Undergrad Grace Vance's dissection was perfect so it's worth sharing here & eventually on MorphoSource. We had scanned the adult male skull years ago so for fun I recreated a digital version of the photo I had posted.🐻

Happy to contribute to this new #OA article in JCompNeurol led by Jared Voris @carnivoris.bsky.social on brain endocast ontogeny in the tyrannosaur Gorgosaurus. The @romtoronto.bsky.social specimen was helpful but Jared's work on the Tyrrell Museum specimens is stunning. 🦖 doi.org/10.1002/cne....

Not only did OHIO Honors student Peter Rhynard finish his awesome honors thesis on Allosaurus, we're happy to announce that, after he graduates in a week or so, he'll be starting PhD work with Michelle Stocker at Virginia Tech! Peter's been a great lab member & we wish him all the best! 🦖

A very young black bear cub skeleton just came out of the dermestid colony, showing how unfused the bones are. Comparing the cub to an adult male really emphasizes the transformation that takes place during growth. Both carcasses were donated to us from ODNR a couple decades ago. 🐻

#HappyEaster🐰 from your friends at WitmerLab! A crunchy take on that traditional favorite this #Easter — now with added calcium!